An exchange is a central marketplace with established rules and regulations where buyers and sellers, referred to as traders, meet to trade. Some exchanges, referred to as open outcry exchanges, operate using a trading floor where buyers and sellers physically meet on the floor to trade. Other exchanges, referred to as electronic exchanges, operate by an electronic or telecommunications network. An electronic exchange typically provides computerized matching between traders. Some example electronic exchanges include European Exchange (“Eurex”), London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (“LIFFE”), Chicago Mercantile Exchange (“CME”), and Chicago Board of Trade (“CBOT”).
With respect to electronic exchanges, traders connect to an electronic trading platform by way of a communication link through their user terminals. Once connected, traders typically choose which tradable objects they wish to trade. As used herein, the term “tradable object” refers to anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. It includes, but is not limited to, all types of traded events, goods and/or financial products, which can include, for example, stocks, options, bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivatives and collections of the foregoing, and all types of commodities, such as grains, energy, and metals. The tradable object may be “real,” such as products that are listed by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic,” such as a combination of real products that is created by the user. A tradable object could actually be a combination of other tradable objects, such as a class of tradable objects.
User terminals (also referred to as client devices) are connected to the electronic trading platform by way of a communication link to facilitate electronic messaging between the trading entities and the exchange. The messaging includes market information that is distributed from the electronic exchange to traders, as well as orders, quotes, acknowledgements, fills, cancels, deletes, cancel and replace, and other well-known financial transaction messages. Although the amount or type of market information published by the exchange often differs, there are some standard pieces of information. For instance, market information usually includes the inside market, which generally refers to the current lowest sell price (also referred to as the best ask) and the current highest buy price (also referred to as the best bid). Market information may also include market depth, which generally refers to quantities available in the market at the price levels other than those corresponding to the inside market. In addition to providing order book information including order price and quantity information, electronic exchanges can offer other types of market information such as the open price, settlement price, net change, volume, last traded price, last traded quantity, and order fill information.
Once the client device receives the market information, it may be displayed on the trading screen. Upon viewing the market information, traders can take certain actions including the actions of sending buy or sell orders to the electronic exchange, adjusting existing orders, deleting orders, or otherwise managing orders. There are a variety of different order types that a trader can enter in the electronic market. Traders may also use software tools to automate these and additional actions.
To profit in today's rapidly moving markets, traders must be able to react quickly and assimilate enormous amounts of data. For example, a trader may wish to review market data, world news, business news, and so on before making trades. Consequently, the trading screen and the tools provided to the trader via a trading screen are extremely important when trading in an electronic trading environment and should reflect a trader's preference or style of trading. Depending on the preference or style of trading, some trading screens are better suited than others.
A conventional market grid window displays the inside market and the market depth of a given commodity in a traditional manner. Specifically, the market grid window displays a first row which contains the inside market information. Typically, the first set of columns of the first row contains the best bid price and quantity, while the second set of columns of the first row contains the best ask price and quantity. And if so desired, the market grid window can also display market depth under the first row. For instance, the bid side market depth is displayed under the best bid price in the first column and the ask side market depth is displayed under the best ask price in the second column. The columns are displayed vertically such that the bid and ask prices descend the grid. The bid prices descend the market grid as the prices decrease and the ask prices also descend the market grid while the prices actually increase.
An advantage of the conventional market grid window is that by displaying the inside market on a single row, many tradable objects can be displayed on a single screen. Another advantage of the market grid window is that the inside market is always in view in the first row, even if the market is moving up or down in value. It should be understood that the term “market” can refer to the inside market or the last traded price (“LTP”). Unfortunately, displaying the market on a single row makes trading in a fast moving market much more difficult to track. Additionally, the ask prices descend the market grid. Therefore, this screen lacks the intuitiveness required to watch the market flow in up or down directions.
Other trading screens flip the ask side column and place it on top of the bid side column. The advantage of this screen is that the inside market still remains in the center and the ask prices now ascend the market grid as the prices increase, thereby correcting one of the disadvantages of the previous screen. However, this type of trading screen still suffers the same disadvantage as its predecessor, namely, that it can still be difficult to view the flow of the market.
Some other trading screens provide an axis of prices in which quantities may be displayed along side their prices. As the market moves up or down in value, the trader may view the bid and ask indicators as they move relative to the price axis to provide an intuitive view of the market. While there are some tools to keep the market in view (e.g., providing a re-centering option and so on), this type of trading screen can let the market “run away,” when the market shifts so rapidly that it disappears from the visible space of the trading screen.
Other trading screens might use an axis of prices, but slowly shift the price axis such that the market is moved back to a user configured location on the screen as the market fluctuates. However, this shifting can actually misrepresent the current flow and condition of the market. For example, as the trading screen slowly shifts the inside market down to a user configured location, the current condition of the market could actually be going up and the trader would not know. Similarly, as the trading screen slowly shifts the inside market up to a user configured location, the current condition of the market could actually be going down. Shifting the market back to a user configured location on the trading screen—sometimes shifting in the proper direction with the market and sometimes shifting opposite of the market—can be unpredictable and may lead to confusion.
Each trading screen has its advantages and its disadvantages, depending on the trader's preference and style of trading. It is therefore desirable to offer traders alternative style trading displays that may be more in tune to their preference or style of trading.